Monday 2 September 2013

Bangalore to Thiruvannamalai - July & August 2013

Bangalore to Thiruvannamalai - July & August 2013

July 2013:
One day trip from Bangalore to Tiruvannamalai Sri Arunachaleswar temple.

After buying new Honda unicorn, I was planning to go for long ride. Later I have decided to go to Tiruvannamalai Sri Arunachaleswar temple.

Like all others I have checked for route in google map to reach Tiruvannamalai. I got the route Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Mathur - Uthangarai - Singarapettai - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai.

We started on July 21st 2013 early morning 4.00 AM from my home in Unicorn bike. We reached Krishnagiri around 5.30 AM. From Krishnagiri I took left turn and then right turn to get into NH66. It is not Highway, it is hellway. The road is so horrible. It is full of potholes. After Chengam the route was OK but still it is very bad. The entire road from Krishnagiri to Tiruvannamalai is still under construction.

After lot and lot of struggle I reached the temple at 10:30 AM. We entered the temple through RajaGopuram. There were police security at the entrance. They checked our bags and then allowed us to enter. We rested for sometime then started slowly walking inside.











I was so worried about driving back all the way to bangalore. I was thinking about taking some other route, but I did not get the courage to take the risk because I was so tired. So I took the same route to go back to bangalore. While going back I stopped so many times to take rest. The moment we reached Krishnagiri, we were so happy. In Krishnagiri we rested for some time. Then I took my bike, and I started riding happily and peacefully towards Hosur. In Hosur we stopped again to have some tea. After that we started again and reached bangalore around 5:30 PM.

Totally I rode 373 Kms.

My advise is not to go to Tiruvannamalai by bike from Bangalore. Still if you want to go, take some other route. In 2008 some one wrote in TeamBhp.com that the Bangalore Tiruvannamalai route is very very bad. Still in 2013 the road is in same condition. 

August 2013:
I again went to same temple with my wife and my mother in law on Aug 17. But this time we went by Bus. It was ok kind of trip.  We started at 8:30 AM and we reached the temple at 2:00 PM. We went by TamilNadu Government bus. This time we entered through Ammani Ammal Gopuram which is on North side. As the temples closes by 12:30 Pm and opens at 3:30 PM, we waited for more than a hour. Actually they did not open the temple at 3:30 PM, they opened it at 4:00 PM. We prepared Puliyogare for lunch. But there were police security at the temple entrance and they did not allow us to take our bag inside. So we gave our bag in luggage counter then we came back. They didn't even allow us to take lunch boxes. After some time my wife went out and took our lunch boxes in her hand bag and came inside the temple. The security did not even allow us to take camera.

There are two entries to worship god. One is the free entry and the other one is paid entry which costs 20 rs. I suggest to take 20 rupees counter because people from this counter will be allowed to go closer to the god so that they can see god clearly. But the people in free entry counter will be standing behind the 20 rs counter. So they don't get clear view because the people who paid 20rs will be blocking their view.

There was an elephant inside. We gave money and took blessings.


Then around 4:30 PM we came out of the temple. We took an auto to reach the bus stand. He charged 10 rupees per head. Then we got into Bangalore Bus. This time also it was a Tamil Nadu Govt bus.

We reached bangalore around 10:30 PM

Temples Open and closing Times
5:00 am Temple Opening Time
12:30 pm Temple Closing Time

3:30 pm Temple Opening Time
9:30 pm  Temple Closing Time

DAILY PUJAS
1. Ushathkalam     05-30 a.m.
2. Kalasanthi         08-00 a.m.
3. Uchikalam        10.00 a.m.
4. Sayarakshai      06-00 p.m.
5. Irandamkalam   08-00 p.m.
6. Ardha Jamam    09-30 p.m.